


Back Again

by Tamari



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-06
Updated: 2012-10-06
Packaged: 2017-11-19 12:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/573418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamari/pseuds/Tamari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I thought you were dead. Harry told me you were dead." / Sirius and Parvati and a Ministry party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Again

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Pairing One Hour Challenge/Hardest Challenge Ever.

Parvati sees him at a Ministry party. Isn't that where everything starts, really?

He must notice her huge brown eyes and gaping mouth as she stares, because he grins and saunters over.

"I'm Sirius Black, pretty lady. And who might you be?" His smile just gets bigger when she makes a squeaky sort of sound.

"Parvati Patil," she says instinctively. "Er, I thought you were dead. Harry told me you were dead."

"Death didn't really suit me," Sirius says. "So I came back."

Why can't she stop staring? "Oh." She grabs the end of her smooth black plait and plays with it. "I didn't know people could do that. I guess if anyone were to do it, it'd be you, though."

He laughs. "Did we know each other when I was alive the first time?"

"No," Parvati admits. "We never met or anything. I thought you were a Death Eater for the longest time, til the end of the war when Harry released that statement about you and Regulus."

Sirius stops laughing and his brows furrow. "What about Regulus?"

"You don't know?" She takes a step closer to him and thinks about patting him on the shoulder, but she doesn't know him well enough to know if he'd bite her head off.

"Obviously not," he says, and it's biting indeed. "Sorry," he adds after a moment. "I've only been back a few days."

Parvati's not sure how to say what needs to be said, but she tries anyway. "He was against He-Voldemort," she corrects herself, "in the end. Tried to destroy a Horcrux - did Harry tell you about those? - and died getting it. His house elf took it back and that's how Harry and Ron and Hermione got rid of it."

He runs a hand through his dark hair, obviously trying to control his shock. "I can't believe it. Regulus - and Kreacher, too? But I don't see you as a liar, Parvati."

"Thank you?" she says uncertainly.

He grins again, a bit more weariness showing through, and she remembers again with a dizzying rush that he spent twelve years in Azkaban.

"You're welcome. Would you like to dance? Most of the ladies here seem to be either terrified or awestruck when I talk to them, sadly."

"Oh," she says. "Sure."

He places his hand on her waist and pulls her out to the dance floor. They dance for a while but she's not quite sure what to say so it's a little awkward.

"What do you do, Parvati?" he says, fixing his gray eyes on hers. She smiles a bit and looks down, then back up.

"I'm a beginning reporter, actually."

"The Daily Prophet?" he asks.

"No," she says, a little indignantly. "Don't you remember how terrible and inaccurate they were? No, I work for the Quibbler."

Sirius tries valiantly to stifle a snort but fails. She tries to keep up her indignant expression but fails, too. They both laugh like hyenas and lose their dance rhythm, Parvati stumbling in her too high heels and grabbing onto Sirius for support.

For the first time in a long time, Parvati almost doesn't notice the stares.


End file.
